BouldersDad
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- Jun 16, 2014
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I think the issue is deeper than this.
In my opinion much of the issue has to do with moving the mound back to 43 feet. That has had an effect that I did not see coming but I think is very real. Girls that could compete and be affective from 40 feet at 14U now get drilled. So instead of sticking with it they are just dropping it. From 40 feet some decent velocity and spotting a pitch or two could make you a good pitcher. But now that we are at 43 feet these same pitchers get lit up. And the coaches also give them the message that they are not good enough. So instead of having players stay in pitching and develop as they get bigger and stronger, they drop out. And the problem is manifesting itself at the 16U and 18U level.
Movement and velocity only get better as you get older and stronger. But the late developers are being driven out at 14U. And what makes matters worse is that the message or the perception is that the best pitchers will get recruited at 14U. So the message is that I need to move to a position and hit if I am not a top dog at 14U.
This is why I always prefer to discuss competing and not winning. I am not saying that you do not reward winning or that is not the goal. But if we can all agree that we cannot control winning we can only control effort and preparation, then we can agree that the real measure can not be winning. But if you make the measuring stick winning. Then the players will not be able to create a measuring stick of progress. It becomes a pass fail test. And if you get to many fails you decide this is not for me. So I think this moving back of the mound has created to much negative feedback to the marginal 14U pitchers and they bail. So at 16U the late bloomers are disappearing. Creating a issue now 5 years after the change.
I also agree that the riding of one pitcher at lower ages also contributes but this has always been an issue. So while that is a contributor it can not be the reason we are seeing a larger issue now. It has to be something else. And I think it was moving the mound back 3 feet. It was supposed to prepare pitchers better for college and also open up the game. But I think it has had a negative effect no one saw coming.
You nailed it. If you use the common sense approach to fix this you will find that what you changed last ( moving back 3 foot ) is what changed the game forever. Pitchers were moved back because lets face it offense sucked about 10 years ago. At that time it was advantage pitchers. With all the hitting instruction now I think you'll find a pretty nice balance between pitching and hitting.
I will throw about another common sense idea since we are discussing inning limitations on pitchers. Why not reduce the ball size from 12 to 11 inch. You want to talk about pitching speed and movement increase let them use a ball they can get their fingers around.
Tim